Conventionally, a system in which a user approaches a vehicle which is parked in a parking area and makes the vehicle read personal identification information (user ID) recorded in an IC card, etc., to unlock the door so that the user is permitted to enter the inside of the vehicle has been conceived as a system for commonly utilizing a vehicle. However, in such a system for commonly utilizing a vehicle, it is unavoidable to keep the ignition key which is used for starting a driving device of the vehicle (engine, motor, etc.), inside the vehicle since the vehicle is managed and operated in an unwatched parking area in such a system for commonly utilizing a vehicle. Accordingly, there is a danger that the vehicle can be easily stolen if the door lock is broken.
In consideration of the above, a device which is capable of preventing theft of the vehicle while keeping the ignition key inside the vehicle has been proposed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-120308. In the device disclosed in the above patent application, a glove box having a key lock mechanism to store the ignition key in an unusable locked state is provided, and the key lock of the glove box is unlocked when the personal identification information in an IC card matches identification information of a person who made the reservation so that the use of the ignition key becomes possible.
Also, a method has been proposed in which a portable ignition key is avoided, and the ignition mechanism is entirely controlled by an electrical controlling means only, and the starting of the driving device of the vehicle is controlled thereby.
However, according to the above conventional techniques, although the possibility that the ignition key is stolen may be reduced by combining the door lock mechanism with the key lock mechanism to generate a double lock mechanism, there is a danger that the vehicle may be unlawfully utilized if the vehicle is lawfully lent to a user and the user copies the ignition key since the ignition key is easily removed from the vehicle.
Also, if the entire ignition mechanism is controlled only by an electrical controlling means, there are problems in that the vehicle cannot be driven if electric power cannot be supplied to the controlling means for some reasons, and it is troublesome to repair the vehicle.